There are a lot of factors that go into making up your credit score, from how often you pay your bills on time to the age of your various accounts.  When you’re trying to clean up your credit report, knowing which areas to focus on can make the credit repair process much easier and go by quicker than you may have initially thought.

This article will focus on the other side of the coin; the stuff you DON’T have to worry about.  Because while knowing what you do have to worry about taking care of is important, knowing what doesn’t matter as much to credit repair can free up any additional worries you may have.  With that said, here are 5 things you don’t have to worry about ever affecting your credit score.

• Your income.  You’ll typically find personal information like past addresses and employment info listed in your credit report, but one area of your finances that you don’t have to worry about showing up is your monthly income, both past and present.  Creditors and lenders are more interested in what you do with money than how much of it you have.

• Your rent.  While your credit card and car payments will routinely show up on your credit report, you won’t have to worry about your past rental history coming back to haunt you.  Unless you consistently are late on your monthly rent payments and your landlords are trying to evict you, this is another area you don’t need worry about.

• Account overdrafts.  If your bank account is ever in the red for whatever reason, you can rest a little easier knowing it won’t show up in your credit history.  While overdrafts are generally something you want to avoid anyway (those fees are a real pain), your bank won’t typically take the time to beat you while you’re down and report the overdraft to the credit bureaus.

• Your utilities.  Just like your past rental history, you won’t have to worry about utility bills showing up on your credit report, either.  Anything from electric and cell phone bills to insurance accounts generally stays off your report unless they fall into collections.

• Any type of credit counseling or credit repair services.  Some people are afraid to seek any type of credit counseling or credit repair service because they’re afraid it might show up on their credit reports.  You can rest easy knowing that no one reports your use of a credit counseling service to the credit bureaus; you’re allowed a cheat sheet on this exam.

(Especially if you’re not getting a bonus this year)

When you’re working towards complete credit repair, one thing that’ll make the journey easier is learning how to stretch your purse strings as far as they’ll go.  Finding debt relief is an important part of credit repair, and nothing can help you achieve that better than learning how to get the most out of your limited budget.

The following are a few tips to help you make the most of your money when attempting credit repair:

Start using your credit cards

Not as your main source of spending, but more as a back-up.  Evaluate which of your cards offer you specific rewards for using them, and use those to help you build better credit.

In addition to cash back rewards and other incentives to keep them in use, using credit cards for smaller purchases can help you in credit repair by re-establishing positive credit.   Always sure you keep the balance at around 30% of what’s available in your account, and to pay the bills as soon as they come in.

Watch your utility bills

Since this is one of those essential bills, like home and car payments, keeping these bills in check should be top priority.  In order to insure you’re getting the most out of your gas and electricity without paying the most on your bill, check with your provider and see if they offer any free energy check programs.  These can help you save a lot of cash and help in your long-term credit repair plans.

Start shopping for thrifty threads

If you consider yourself a fashionista on a budget, it’s time to face facts and realize you can’t afford the latest trends in threads while going through the credit repair motions.  Rather than heading to the nearest Gap and picking up whatever looks hot, consider sticking to clothing necessities for the time being and leaving those new Ugg boots on the shelf.  They look ridiculous anyway.

Dial that cell phone plan back

Paying more than $100 a month on your cell phone bill?  If you’ve overloaded your new iPhone or EVO or whatever the hell is popular these days with a ton of apps, text every hour, and accumulated more charges, it’s time to rein in.  Your DMV wait time might feel a little longer now, but at least you won’t be paying for it with ridiculous cell phone charges.

Work to settle old debts

Finally, for those of you barely able to tread water on your bills, consider working with a debt settlement or credit repair firm to help you lower your debt.  It can be tricky to find a good one, but these services are a big help for those who don’t have the time or know-how to deal with creditors.

Wondering what’s keeping you from landing that dream apartment you’ve had your eye on all this time?  It could be your credit history.

What went wrong?

Maybe you have student loans that were defaulted, a collection or two in your history, or are just in need of credit repair in general.  Whatever the reason, you need to improve your credit score fast to get that apartment you need.  Here’s how:

Tell them how you feel

Getting that right apartment may seem out of reach when you need credit restoration, but all hope isn’t quite lost.  If you already know your credit report isn’t in good shape, you might try being upfront about your situation.  After all, they do say honesty is the best policy.

If you let the manager know that your report isn’t in the best condition and you’re currently undergoing credit repair, they might be more inclined to give you a second look, so long as you don’t have a lot of outstanding debts to other parties.

Cash upfront

If your pleas of seeking credit restoration prove fruitless, consider renting from a private owner.  They’ll usually be more than happy to overlook your past misdeeds if you’ve got the cash in hand for a new apartment.

Try finding a co-signer

If your efforts at credit repair don’t impress the right people, you can try getting a co-signer for your apartment.  This can prove difficult, as anyone who co-signs a loan with you will be just as financially responsible for the property, but it might be the only way to get into your new home.

Start repairing your credit now

You can make your journey to a new apartment that much easier by paying off any outstanding debts that could show up and damage your chances of renting.  Consider opening a secured credit card to start building new, positive lines of credit to help you improve your bad credit score.  If you still need helping building up your credit history, consider using a debt relief service offering pay to delete negotiations or credit repair agency to bolster your chances of successfully obtaining your new apartment.

Credit repair is serious business. I’m sure you already know that, and so do thousands of companies vying for your bottom dollar online. Some of them make pretty far-out promises – a quick look at some of the hits for “credit repair companies” on Google brings up results for some companies that guarantee permanent results for your report. They’re basically saying all your problems will be taken care of – FOREVER – if you just pick their service. Boy, I wish my fairy godmother would fix all my problems whenever I charged myself into a corner…

Sorry if I’m the one to break it to you, but no matter what some credit repair companies may say, there is no such thing as a quick fix for your credit problems, let alone a PERMANENT one. Think of your credit like a baby: it requires constant care, attention, and one wrong move can leave you with a diaper full of crap. And, like that little bundle of joy, the only one who can really take care of your credit is you.

While it is certainly advisable to consult a firm for advice when looking to clean up your report — like you would consult a baby names book if the best you can come up with is Shiloh — finding the right one can be tricky. Generally, it’s a good idea to keep away from any company that guarantees you results of any kind. Nothing is certain when it comes to re, and anyone who tells you they can make all your problems go away permanently is outright wrong.

If you do need help, and who doesn’t with all the laws and acronyms floating around on the subject, your best bet is looking into any company that doesn’t just offer credit repair, but services that offer pay for deletion negotiations on outstanding debt accounts as well. Any credit repair company that offers to help you pay down your debts in addition to checking into your credit accounts is a real help, as any outstanding accounts you have on your report probably won’t be resolved with a simple dispute letter. Just make sure you keep an eye on them as well, as most companies charge a monthly fee for their services and some have the nasty habit of neglecting to keep in constant contact with you.

Sure it seems like navigating the web for the right credit repair company is like stepping into an online minefield, finding one that works for you can mean all the difference. Stay diligent, keep an eye on your report — and anyone you paid to eye it for you — and you just might make it out of this with your good name intact. Unless it’s Shiloh, that is.

This Week in Credit News

Credit Swaps on Bank of America, Goldman Sachs Jump on S&P Cut

“The cost to protect debt issued by U.S. banks from Bank of America Corp. to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. jumped after Standard & Poor’s lowered their long-term credit ratings as it revised criteria for the banking industry.”

A New Credit Score Exposes Even More of Your Financial Life

“Earlier this week, a company called CoreLogic introduced a new type of credit file, which is based on the giant repository of consumer data it maintains on, well, just about everything that most of the traditional credit bureaus do not: missed rental payments that have gone into collection, any evictions or child support judgments, as well as any applications for payday loans, along with your repayment history.”

Credit cards: How to avoid getting tricked this holiday season

“Credit experts say you need to resist the draw to pay low and instead shell out for as much as you can afford in order to break the hold of card debt. That attraction to pay less, Salisbury says, has a greater impact on people who have the money to pay the bill, because they could afford to pay the full amount, but don’t, and end up spending money on interest instead.”

This Week’s Credit Repair Blog

Credit Repair Tips for Keeping Your Holiday Budget Down

How Your Bad Credit Could Be Hindering Your Job Prospects

This Week’s Credit Repair Q&A

Debt Settlement vs. Consolidation: The Pros and Cons

Can More Than One Collection Company Collect on a Debt?

Will Paying Off Collection Accounts Re-Age Them?

With unemployment rates in America hitting a near all-time high, the number of applications being received per position is skyrocketing. Couple the unemployment rate with the increasing popularity of employers running credit & background checks on potential employees and the situation is creating a Catch-22 for many job seekers.

This is because your credit profile may be suffering because you lost your job and as a result you have gotten behind with your bills and allowed an increasing amount of debt to be run up; the predicament is that those same actions may currently be keeping you from landing a job with prospective companies. Many job hunters are unsure whether bankruptcy, credit repair, or simply applying to a myriad of job listings in the hopes that there is no credit check is their best alternative.

So where does that leave the rest of the workforce facing this issue? Well, there is very little that people can do to change their credit profiles over short periods of time. So in reality you need to understand the financial choices that you’ve made and demonstrate to potential employers that your credit reports do not define you. There are a couple of steps that should help if you are one of the many in this exact situation.

Know your credit reports

Job seekers can’t defend their financial history if they are unaware of what their credit reports are saying to employers. Credit reports are free every 12 months from each of the three major credit bureaus – Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. They will not show you a credit score, but they do list your entire credit profile over the last 10 years exactly as employers will see it.

As a job seeker you need to be prepared to answer any questions, this includes questions about your financial history as well as your work history. If you seem hesitant or confused in your knowledge of your own finances the hiring employer is going to question your reliability and your honesty.

Be honest

Once you’ve analyzed your reports and see what derogatory items are on there, you may be able to save yourself the time and stress involved with waiting for companies to run your credit & background check. Let them know straight away what they’re going to find. Any legitimate employer will tell you up front whether your infractions are going to cost you the position. Additionally, it demonstrates your desire to be honest with your potential employer. It also affords you the opportunity to explain yourself in a manner that abbreviations and codes on your credit reports won’t do.

Would bankruptcy or credit repair services help?

Yes and no. If you need the issue resolved before a prospective employer pulls your credit in the next few days, then neither of these solutions is going to help you get that job in that timeframe. Both bankruptcy and credit repair services are time consuming processes that need to be looked at long before they can be properly implemented.

While there are laws to prevent discrimination against those with a bankruptcy on their credit reports, the same cannot be said if you are simply in debt. Again, this is another Catch-22 since bankruptcy will generally ruin a credit profile for a minimum of 2 years, affecting the score for longer as it remains on the report for up to 10 years; but at the same time there are no laws against discriminating against those in need of just some simple credit repair, which can take anywhere from 3 to 12 months to have properly done while leaving your credit score intact.

Keep your chin up

Unless they’ve lived under a rock for the past few years, everyone is aware of the state of our economy, and accordingly, the state of individual’s finances. Perhaps you ran up a bit too much debt, perhaps you got a bit behind on some of your bill; so what? It’s likely that you’re not exactly in the best position to bring everything current if you’re out there looking for a job. Employers do understand. So, the better prepared you are to discuss with them your individual situation, and your strategy to get your finances back on track, the better shot you have over another applicant who comes across as just numbers and codes listed on a credit report.

People looking for credit repair options always appreciate tips to help them save money in any way they can (especially now that we’re heading into the holiday shopping season full speed ahead) so they can improve their credit scores quickly and reduce their debts as much as possible.  In the interest of helping those looking for credit repair services save another couple of bucks, here are a few more tips to stretch your budget out for all it’s worth:

Learn to say no to impulse gift buying

You can really save yourself some coin by cutting back on impulse spending.  If you’re the type to buy more than you intended to when you go shopping for anything, make a list for yourself of the essential items you need, and stick close to it.  Your wallet will appreciate not being gutted every time you step outside.

Refrain from going out to dinner every other night

If you can’t cook, acquaint yourself with the Food Network and learn some easy recipes online.  Anything’s better than watching your budget slowly being eaten away by eating out every chance you get.  Plus, your new cooking skills will impress your friends!

Keep your vacation budget down

Not every vacation needs to be a trip to Disney World or a Caribbean cruise (although it’d be sweet if it could), especially when you’re undergoing credit repair.  Instead of planning hugely elaborate, costly family vacations, check out other fun and inexpensive options for some R & R.  Go to a beach, or the park, play games around the house.

Don’t pay per view

These days there’s hardly any reason to pay a premium for your cable TV.  With sites online like Hulu and Netflix, and other on-demand services, your high cable bill should be the easiest thing to dump (at least for now).

Keep an eye on your debts

Pay close attention to your budget and the condition of your debts.  Come up with a plan to help you pay down each of your major debts systematically and remember to keep tabs on each of your accounts even after they’re paid off to make sure they’re reporting correctly on your credit report.  Do this and you will have gone a long way towards credit restoration.

Most people do all they can when it comes to credit repair.  They pay their bills and try to keep their credit cards from making the wrong charges, but for some reason, their reports and scores never quite seem to work out as well as they hope.

To help you make some sense out of what may going wrong with your attempts at restoring your credit, the leader in San Diego credit repair services has put together a list of 5 of the top mistakes just about everybody makes in their efforts to repair their bad credit.  Check these off as what not to do when getting your finances back on track:

Closing credit cards. Despite your initial instinct when faced with a poor credit history, closing your credit accounts is actually not the best idea for credit repair.  Doing so will switch them to inactive, which means they’re now essentially dead weight and will eventually fall off your report, leaving you with a smaller credit history.  Having a shorter history can make you look less financially responsible than you are; it’s like you erased that hard work for nothing.

Late or missed payments. The first step to total credit repair is making sure your accounts are current and up-to-date, and that you haven’t been missing too many payments on your accounts.  If you need help with this, set up a budget for yourself to help you manage your money situation better.

Credit accounts are maxed-out. If you use your credit cards to pay for just about everything in life, you’re probably teetering the edge of maxed-out accounts (assuming you haven’t fallen off already…).  If this sounds familiar, consider closing any excess accounts you have and rarely use, and start paying your existing accounts down to around 30% of the available balance.

Too much shopping for new credit. If you routinely shop around for new lines of credit – that is, if you fill out every credit card application that gets shoved in your face – you may be doing much more harm to your credit than you realize.  Each credit application counts as a “hard inquiry” on your report, and unless your credit repair plan calls for 25 new credit cards (hint: it shouldn’t), stop filling these out every time you see one.

Thinking you only have one credit score to worry about. Most people think of their credit score as one number, but it’s actually three separate scores.  When attempting to fix your credit, the scores you should watch closely are your FICO scores, the model used by most lenders to determine your credit risk.  Work on getting that as high as it’ll go, and you’re one step closer to financial freedom.

This post might not have much to do with credit repair services, but I thought we’d cover an area of personal finance often left unchecked.

It seems like every other day that I come home from a long day at the office to find at least two cards that proclaim in huge, bold letters “WE PAY CASH FOR GOLD”, with a little note at the bottom letting me know they also habla español.

Now I’m seeing all of these commercials and billboards with bright, shiny faces giving these glowing testimonials, as if they just couldn’t wait to tell you about how much they loved selling away their gold.  The gold buyers will even send you a “secure” self addressed package at no cost to you for your gold shipping needs.  And I’ve never seen a single person in these ads smoking a cheap cigar.

But I wonder if the part where they rip you off has changed at all.

Gold Prices Increase

Over the past 10 years gold prices have almost quadrupled topping out above $1,200 an ounce in December of 2009.  All the commercials for gold buyers will tell you the same thing.  It gets consumer’s brains to thinking that they may have an ounce in jewelry that’s just collecting dust.  Why wouldn’t you want to turn that into $1,200?

We Could Use the Extra Money

With the economy still struggling to get back on track many Americans need extra money to make ends meet.  Selling some excess gold seems like a good way to get money for something that you’re probably not even using.  With gold prices up and Americans needing money you would think this was perfect timing for consumers to hop on board with one of gold buying companies that tries to make the process so convenient.

The Price is Wrong

When you’re selling your jewelry its cost is not calculated by the ounce, but rather by the gram or, more than likely, by the pennyweight (abbreviated dwt).  A dwt. is one-twentieth of a standard ounce.    Now, the companies that buy gold can obviously set their own prices that don’t necessarily need to be in line with what gold is currently selling for.

These are businesses that are trying to make a profit.  Nationally broadcast commercials on TV and radio aren’t exactly cheap.  This expense and others need to be recovered somehow.  This will undoubtedly come at the consumer’s expense as opposed to cutting into their profit margin.  Not only will you be given below industry minimums for your gold, but once you tack on processing fees you’ll end up with a check that shocks you with just how little you’ve received.

Lastly, there’s no appraisal that lets you decide whether you want to accept their offer or not.  You simply send your gold away and they send you a check with an amount that they deemed appropriate.

I’d Rather Stick with the Seedy Pawn Shops

At least with the pawn shops you knew you were getting ripped off and had the option to say “forget it” and take your gold back home with you.  With these mail-in cash for gold companies, not only are you getting the raw end of the deal, but you don’t even have the option of cancelling the transaction.

From what I’ve gathered the best bet is shopping around and doing so with local jewelers and gold buyers.  Local companies pay consistently higher prices then do the national firms.  Plus, very often the local companies will purchase the entire item, gemstones included.  This isn’t something you get when you sell to wholesale gold buyers.  They simply want to melt the gold down.

Also, just because gold prices are at a ten-year high, doesn’t mean that you should run out and sell everything you own.  There may be more value in having some patience with your gold.  Contemplate whether getting a quarter of what your gold is actually worth really merits your time and effort.

Used to be a fella was always havin’ to carry cash around in his wallet if he was intendin’ on buyin’ somethin’ for himself while he was out ‘n about his business.  Nowadays, no one really even uses cash anymore, cuz they all got debit cards now.

Of course, if your aim is to improve your credit score or build up a better credit profile, you won’t want to use your debit card in the first place.  However, since they’re so much more convenient to carry around in your wallet than a wad of cash – and since people use them enough to (justifiably) go into a Hulk-like rage as soon as a major bank tries to tack a monthly fee onto their use – I thought we’d take a minute off from talking about credit repair services, and devote a post to them.

Most people (and I include myself among them) have switched to favoring debit cards over cold, hard cash simply because they’re more convenient to carry around.  I mean, who wants to be burdened by having wads of dolla bills weighing down their back pockets and purses when a simple plastic card will do the trick just as well.

Sure, there’s the extra hassle of having to balance a checkbook whenever you make a purchase with the card – assuming you stay on top of your finances in the first place, you don’t want to end up in need of debt relief, do you? – but it’s easier to carry around, so why choose a credit card over your debit card for purchases?

Well, aside from improving your credit score, there’s an advantage to using credit over debit on more than a couple of occasions:

Online purchases

Everyone knows about the dangers of identity thieves, especially since they’re so prevalent online.  If you’re heading over to Amazon to buy a few items, you might want to consider entering your credit card number instead.

Not necessarily because is one more secure than the other, but should your info get stolen out from under you on the internet, any transactions that occurred can be immediately credited back to your credit card, whereas with a debit card, an investigation would need to be made before you get your money back.

Vacation time

Thinking about flying somewhere for Christmas?  Or booking a cruise to escape the holiday chill?  You might wanna consider charging it to your debit card.  Since most big vacation trips are planned months in advance – and things like hotels and plane tickets are booked in that time – credit cards give you the luxury of being able to dispute any purchases should you need to, say, cancel or postpone the trip – an option debit cards do not share.

Recurring accounts

Thinking about tying a bill payment to your debit card?  If it’s an account you’ll be making regular payments to, you may want to reconsider using your debit card to pay the bills, if only because it can be difficult to cancel payments, and keep track of the accounts each month to make sure you’re never overdrawn.

This Week in Credit News

Credit Unions Poach Clients

“Thousands of people flooded into credit unions and small banks over the weekend as part of Bank Transfer Day, an effort to prod depositors to abandon giant banks. But at least some of the big banks won’t mind losing those customers.”

Credit card issuers raise rewards for holiday shopping season

“Credit card issuers are bumping up their rewards for the holiday shopping season as they seek to lure consumers away from debit cards and competitors. For shoppers with decent credit scores, this can provide the opportunity to pick up extra cash or miles while they do their gift shopping.”

Consumer Credit in U.S. Climbed $7.4 Billion in September

“The $7.4 billion jump was more than forecast and followed a $9.7 billion decrease the previous month, Federal Reserve figures showed today in Washington. Credit was projected to rise $5.2 billion, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey.”

This Week’s Credit Repair Blog

What You Should Be Looking For on Your Credit Report

On the Importance of Validating Your Debts

This Week’s Credit Repair Q&A

Inquiry Letters – How Do I Write One?

How do You Delete an Original Creditor from My Report

How Much Will Closing a Credit Card Lower My Score?

People looking for ways to clean up their credit reports sometimes turn to credit repair services because they promise to dispute your bad credit and have it taken care of for you in no time.  What a lot of them don’t realize is that many of these services will simply take your money and dispute every negative account in your profile, in the hopes that one of them might fall off.

As you can imagine, this isn’t exactly the best way to go about improving your credit score.  Disputing every account on your credit report not only is a waste of time (unless the account you’re disputing is actually inaccurate), and in some cases can land you in a world of trouble.  If there’s a collection on your report, and you dispute the account information, you’ll not only have wasted time and money, but you could open yourself up to lawsuits by claiming an account isn’t your own.

So what’s the better method for cleaning up your credit history?  If you’ve got accounts and debts on your file that you don’t recognize, don’t dispute them – validate them with a debt validation letter.

Rather than claiming information about an account is inaccurate and refusing to take care of it, find out the creditor or collector’s contact information (usually listed in the report) and write them a letter requesting verification of the debt, and that the collector provide proof that you owe the money, and that they have the right to collect it.  If the collection agency is unable to verify the debt, problem solved.  If they are able to verify it, your next course of action should be to set up some type of payment plan to get rid of the debt (and put an end to those annoying phone calls).

Remember that debt validation letters are only a means of verifying an existing debt, not a way to eliminate the debt entirely.  You shouldn’t try to validate a debt that you know for a fact is yours, as it could land you in deeper trouble with collectors.

Say you’re in the market for a new car.  That old ’91 Oldsmobile isn’t quite cutting it like it used to, and it’s time to trade up, so you decide to spend a weekend out cruising the car lots for a new set of wheels (and maybe some sweeter rims to go with it).  Eventually, you find a car with just such a set of rims, and off you go to sign those papers.

Until the dealer turns you down on account of your poor credit history.  Suddenly, you find you’ll need to polish up your credit history before you can polish those rims, so in an attempt at credit repair, you order a copy of your report to try and see what exactly is holding you back.

Here’s what to look for when your credit history arrives.

Fatal error detected

The first thing you’ll want to do upon receipt of your credit report is verify the personal information they have listed for you on record.  Make sure you are who they say you are.  If any of your personal information such as your name or social security number, are incorrect, inform the reporting credit bureaus of the error and request it be fixed immediately.

These kinds of errors on your credit report can account for some of your bad credit history if the name or SS# listed are someone else’s with a bad credit history (conversely, they could be helping your score if that other mystery person with a similar name to yours has a good history, but that’s not usually the case, and you don’t really want to be sharing your credit report with someone else anyway).

Do these look accurate to you?

Next, you’ll want to verify your account history and make sure that information listed there is accurate as well.  Check your payment histories, and make sure they list their statuses correctly – whether or not you’re current on the account and if you’ve ever been late.  If any accounts are reporting incorrectly, get in contact with the agency reporting the wrong information (each credit bureau may report different information on different accounts, so you’ll want to look at all 3 reports when reviewing your credit history), and ask that they have their records updated with the correct info.  Having negative errors cleaned off your report will bring you one step closer to the perfect set of rims, and the car to go with them.

Will the real you please stand up?

Finally, and most importantly, check your credit report for any signs of identity theft, such as accounts that aren’t yours at all or credit inquiries from creditors you never contacted.  If you find anything here that looks suspiciously out of place, include it in your dispute to the credit bureaus and demand they take immediate action to remove the account(s).

Also, if you have a high number of credit inquiries on your report that go back over 2-3 years, ask that they have those cleaned off as well.  Having too many inquiries on your report can drop your score by a few points, depending on how recent they are, and having them removed will only increase your chances of getting a favorable response from creditors and lenders when you go back looking for good deals.

This Week in Credit News

Credit union business grows as consumers sour on banks

“Long touted by consumer groups as a more consumer-friendly option than large commercial banks, the nation’s not-for-profit credit unions saw a significant jump in new members and deposits last month as momentum in the Occupation Wall Street campaign has increased, and many of the big banks rescinded, debit card fees.”

U.S. banks to push prepaid, credit cards

“U.S. banks that have lost debit card processing revenue due to new caps on fees will likely push customers into prepaid and credit cards and other types of account fees, executives said on Thursday.”

Best Credit Cards for Holiday Shopping

“But you probably won’t give up shopping at your favorite retail stores, either. American retailers will hire nearly half a million seasonal workers to help with this year’s gift-giving crush, according to the National Retail Federation. In all, the NRF estimates that we’ll spend 2.8% more on our holiday gifts, travel, and meals this year compared to last year.”

This Week’s Credit Repair Blog

Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Good Credit?

Choosing the Right Secured Card for Credit Repair

This Week’s Credit Repair Q&A

Paying Off Credit Cards Isn’t Helping My Score

Marriage and Credit: Does Her Credit Affect Me?

Permissible Purpose for Running Credit Under FCRA

If you’ve been searching for advice from credit repair services online, one piece of advice you’ve probably run into more than once is to open a secured credit card. If you’ve been living your life with no credit whatsoever-or have been living with too much of it and have the bad credit history to prove it-opening a secured credit card can be one of the best ways to build and improve your credit score.

You may be lamenting the fact that you need a credit card in the first place, but the sad truth is cash isn’t everything these days. Nowadays just about everyone requires a credit card for their services, so if you’ve been living your whole life under a rock, now’s your time to shine.

But if you’ve been living with bad credit or no credit your entire life, opening a new credit card account can be tricky. And that’s where secured credit cards come in. But just what makes these a viable alternative to a regular credit card, and what should you be looking for when you want to open the card account? Here are some tips to consider when choosing a secured credit card:

• Fees. Just like an unsecured credit card, secured cards through your bank or credit union come with fees attached; your standard application and annual fees. When trying to decide which bank or credit union to open a secured card with, be sure to pass up offers that come with high fees that can eat up most of your security deposit.

• Deposit. Secured credit cards are a lot like your bank or credit union’s debit cards in that they require a deposit to activate. This deposit is held in case you default on your payments at any time. Some lenders will even place your deposit account where it can gain interest. Before signing up for a card, be sure to see if your deposit will actually earn you any interest in the long run.

• Eligibility. Much like regular credit card accounts, or any sort of credit account in general, many secured cards carry eligibility requirements, usually having to do with your income. You may be able to afford the deposit, but some lenders and credit unions may not be willing to extend you credit unless you already have an account open with them. Check with your bank to see what sort of eligibility requirements they may have in place before opening a secured card.

• Your credit limit. Generally speaking, most banks and credit unions base your credit limit on the amount you deposit, but this isn’t always the case. Sometimes your credit limit is only a small percentage of your deposit, meaning you’re getting less than you’re putting in. When researching secured credit cards, check to see which banks or credit unions offer credit limit on par with your deposit.

Follow these tips when researching secured credit card, and both you and your credit should come out on top.

One of the most common questions our new clients ask us when they first sign up looking to improve their credit scores, is if there really is such a thing as too much of a good thing when it comes to credit.  In essence, will taking on even more credit damage their credit score in any way?

The good news is that, as long as you already have good credit, adding more to it will only help you.  Just make sure you keep doing what you’ve obviously been doing – keeping up with your monthly payments.

Here’s how it works

If you already have a good credit score, it shows your lenders that you know how to handle your credit accounts.  You pay your bills on time, you have more than one type of open credit account in your history, and your open accounts all have good payment history on your profile.  In short, your lenders see that you aren’t a high-risk case for paying money back, and so will gladly extend you a new line of credit.

But just because you can pick up new credit so easily doesn’t mean you should just rest on it.  Although the new line of credit, be it a card or otherwise, will help boost your good history, your score will likely be dinged a couple of points initially due to the “hard inquiry” the creditor makes into your credit history.  Your credit utilization ratio will be affected as well, which is why you’d do well to stay away from applying for cards you might only end up using once, then calling it a day.

Be sure to keep an eye on your debt-to-income ratio as well.  The more new lines of credit you open, the higher your limits raise, which could lead to trouble if you’re prone to impulse shopping like I am.  Always try and maintain your balance at 30% of the total available high balance to hold onto the best credit score possible.

Your limit must be this high to ride

There’s also a possibility that your higher limits could work in your favor right from the get-go.  In addition to raising your overall credit limit, lenders – who were once pretty wary of anyone with too high a credit limit – are instead focusing more on a potential consumer’s credit utilization rate.  The more you show that you not only have high credit, but know how to use it as well, the better your chances of being extended more credit will be.

Just make sure you don’t take on any more credit than you can realistically handle, unless you wanna wind up in need of credit repair services again.  You’ll need to keep a good handle on your overall debt as well.  Any new lines of credit will need to be watched closely so your debt doesn’t rise too high and start to impact your credit score.  Be sure to check each potential new card’s policies and interest rates before you sign the dotted line, and make sure they won’t drown you in interest the minute you miss a payment.

This Week in Credit News

Using Credit Cards to Target Web Ads

“Their plans, if implemented, would represent not only a technological feat—tying people’s Internet lives with shopping activities—but also an erosion of the idea of anonymity on the Web. It’s an effort by the two companies to profit by selling access to the insights they gather about people with every credit-card transaction.”

U.S. credit rating facing another cut soon, Bank of America warns

“The ratings firms are likely to draw the same conclusion if the super committee fails in its task, Harris warned. “The credit rating agencies have strongly suggested that further rating cuts are likely if Congress does not come up with a credible long-run plan,” Harris wrote. “Hence, we expect at least one credit downgrade in late November or early December when the super committee crashes.”

Credit Rating Companies Favoring Borrowers Paying Most

“Credit-rating companies routinely award higher rankings to debt issued by banks and corporations that pay them the most, a conflict of interest that may escape Congressional efforts to change the way they do business.”

This Week’s Credit Repair Blog

Age Ain’t Nothin’ But a Credit Card Number

How to Spot a Credit Repair Scam

This Week’s Credit Repair Q&A

What Are the Best Credit Cards for Helping Rebuild My Credit?

Do Bank Overdrafts Affect My Credit Score?

Which accounts should I pay off first?

So you’ve ordered a copy of your credit report to check up on your history because you’re thinking about opening a new line of credit and want to check that your credit is up to par.  The report arrives and, much to your dismay, things aren’t quite as peachy as you’d hoped they would be.  Late payments, a collection notice, and even a judgment on your public record round out a list of bad history in your credit file that needs to be dealt with ASAP if you want that new line of credit.

But you don’t know the first thing about repairing your credit, nor do you know how to even contest some of the information you’re seeing on file .  Your next step, then, is to check out some of those credit repair services you’ve see online.  But how do you tell which company is legitimately interested in helping you fix your bad credit, and which is just interested in stringing you along for a few months while they bleed your bank account dry?  Follow these tips for spotting the difference between a real credit repair company, and a scam.

•    Pay all in cash up front. Any service that requires payment before any services are even preformed is something you’ll want to avoid.  If they’re not gonna offer you a test drive on their services, move on.

•    Wipe all your bad history away NOW. If the company makes elaborate promises of being able to completely wipe ALL of your bad credit from your report in as little as a month, you can go ahead and bid them a good day.  Bad credit doesn’t happen overnight, and it certainly won’t go away just as quickly.  Any agency that promises otherwise is lying to you.

•    Rights?  What rights? If you’re not made aware of your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act or Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or worse, are asked to sign a form waiving your rights under the Credit Repair Organizations Act, bail out.  This is a credit repair scam basically asking to scam you outright, and who wants that?

•    Just sign on the dotted line. But before you do, you’ll want to review any contract the repair agency wants you to sign and make sure they didn’t leave out any crucial information like what they’ll be charging you each month in fees, or exactly what kind of services they’ll be performing on your behalf.  If anything seems intentionally vague or obtuse, consider putting your pen away for now.

•    “I can probably have this ready in 6-8 months or so.  Probably.” As I said earlier, it takes a while to fix bad credit, especially if you have multiple accounts that are in need of a fix.  If you’ve only got a couple of late payments or a collection on your file though, there’s no reason the process should take up to half a year to get through.  If you feel like you’re being strung along for no clear reason, cancel your account.

Hopefully, these tips will give you a better idea of what to watch out for should you decide to hire a credit repair company to spruce up your credit history.

A lot of consumers want to know what the best credit card is for their credit report; whether they’re just starting out with credit accounts, or are undergoing credit repair and/or debt settlement services to fix their profile.  And while we’ve blogged in the past about which type of card is best for those two specific situations, one area often overlooked is the age category – more specifically, the right credit card for the right age group.

Most people don’t even think about age being a factor in determining what credit card they should sign up for, but it certainly matters to credit card companies.  That’s why it’s important to sign up for a credit card that caters to your current age group when you shop around.

I’m going to break it down for you by specific age group and detail why someone close to retirement wouldn’t benefit as much from the same card as a college kid would – much like how you never see the people in your grandfather’s retirement home waiting in line for a toga party.

College kids

There was a time when nearly everyone out of high school would be inundated with credit card offers as soon as they graduated.  The Credit CARD Act saw an end to that, and now companies are barred from marketing to anyone under the age of 21.  This obviously means that new lines of credit – already hard to get when you’re just starting out – are even harder to get for the kids.  You can still get a credit card if you’re younger than 21, but it’ll be with lower limits and terms that won’t exactly be in your favor.

When you’re young and just getting started in the credit game, you’re likely to have a score between 675 and 730, which would place you in the “near prime” card category.  “Near prime” cards are good for consumers with good, but not great, credit.  You can also apply for a secured credit card through a bank or credit union.  You have to provide the deposit for the account, and the card works more like a debit than a credit card, but it reports to the credit bureaus just the same as a regular credit card, so you’ll still be able to build credit.

Your only other option if you’re a struggling college student looking for an easy way to pay for drinks is to try and piggyback onto one of your parents’ credit profile by becoming an authorized user on their card (I’d recommend against telling them you wanna use it to get sloshed though, but that’s me).

All the single ladies (and fellas too)

If you’re single and under 40, you want to be honest with yourself about how you’re going to use the card.  If you’re the type to not leave a shopping center without picking something up, you’re probably going to be paying interest on your credit card bill at one time or another.  In that case, you’ll want to look for cards that have lower regular APR than others.

You can also look into opening a retail credit card.  These aren’t exactly the best cards for your report, but when you’re still building your credit history, any help’s better than none at all.  Another option would be a gas card – they tend to offer better rewards programs than your typical retail credit card.

If you’re single and over 40, well, there’s always internet dating.  As far as credit goes, it’s very likely that you’re not burdened with the normal level of expenses that comes with having a family, which makes you a prime target for credit card providers.  Assuming you already have good credit, look for cards that offer interest rates of 10% or lower, or if higher rates don’t bother you, a nice rewards program.

Sitting at the kid’s table

If you’re young and have a family of your own, you want a credit card that has rewards for common purchases, since you’re likely to be spending a lot more money than you would on your own.  You’ll want a card that offers rebates on commonly purchased items like groceries.  Any card with a rewards program that offers savings and earnings on gas or groceries is worth your consideration.

Party for two

If you’ve sent the kids off to college and you’re worried about having enough money stocked away for retirement, consider looking into a rewards card that puts your points in a brokerage account or an IRA that’s tax-deferred.  This way you’re not only saving money, but it’ll grow tax-deferred until you need it.

If you’ve got a few outstanding debts, you’ll want to tackle those now too, while you’re still working.  If you still have cards active that you opened when you were younger that no longer fit with your lifestyle (like retail cards for kids that have gone off to college), consider switching to a card that fits you better now.

Retirement age

Picking the right card here depends on what you want to do with yourself now that you’re free of the workforce.  If you want to travel (and most retirees do), look for travel rewards cards that offer little or no fees for foreign transactions.  If you’re becoming more of a frequent face at the pharmacy, you might also look for cards with rewards for those purchases.

Now that you’re on a fixed income, you’ll also want to focus on cards with lower interest rates.  Check with a local bank or credit union to see which offers the better rate for you.

This Week in Credit News

Credit Union Pledges Fee-Free Checking for Life

“Bethpage Federal Credit Union says that effective immediately, new customers opening a Bethpage Bonus checking account can be assured of a lifetime of no debit card fees, no monthly maintenance fees, no transaction fees, no minimum balance fees and no fees charged by Bethpage for use of other banks’ A.T.M.’s. Plus, there are no fees for online, mobile or telephone banking.”

Education tax credit mistakenly claimed by millions, report says

“Millions of American taxpayers may have erroneously claimed an education tax credit last year that is designed to provide relief as part of the Obama administration’s economic stimulus program, according to a new federal watchdog report disputed by the Internal Revenue Service.”

Credit card late payments edge higher in September

“In what may be an early sign that credit card users are again having trouble paying their bills, five of the nation’s top six credit card issuers said Monday that late payments rose in September.”

This Week’s Credit Repair Blog

Getting a Credit Card at 18

Are Joint Credit Cards a Good Idea?

This Week’s Credit Repair Q&A

Why Do My Credit Scores Change With Little Activity?

How is a Person’s Credit Risk Determined?

Will Paying My Bills Early Improve My Credit Score